The usual flow of the trap sees the con-man befriending gullible folks and passing himself off as a "feng shui master", then coercing millions of dollars worth of "fees" to perform pseudo-services, mostly involving simple blessings, "consultations" and exorcising evil spirits, as well as arranging furniture.

Some cases see the con-man eliminating the gullible fools after he gets his money to cover his tracks. A popular scheme involves poisoning the family, blaming the sickness on bad feng shui, then getting even more money before killing them. There were several highly publicized executions of these quacks in China last year, more are expected this year.